Hoyer: Republicans Continue to Waste Americans' Time on Pointless Votes

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor today in opposition to Republicans' 40th vote attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Below are excerpts of his remarks and a link to the video:

“Mr. Speaker, less than two weeks ago Republicans were on this Floor for the 38th and 39th time to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The accessible care Act, the quality care Act. Now we have the 40th time we've been at this. The American people of course want to see us working on jobs. They want to see us working on investment and education. They want to see us being able to compete with the world. But what do we do? We continue to beat this horse.”

“Today… [Republicans] vote to repeal tax credits and subsidies designed to make health care more affordable for those same people: working families and small businesses who haven't been able to get insurance and are left at risk without the security of it. Suddenly, the party that never met a tax break it didn't like is pursuing a tax increase of more than $1 trillion on small businesses and the middle class. As a result, they are making health care more expensive, and millions of Americans will no longer be able to access affordable health care.”

“Mr. Speaker, this bill makes all those folks pawns in Republicans’ single-focused quest to undo health care reform at the expense of every other pressing challenge we face as a nation. It's shameful, Mr. Speaker, that this House continues to waste the American people's time on health care repeal votes that won't go anywhere, and they know it. The Senate will not pass this bill, and the President will not sign it.”

“We have pressing business before us that needs immediate attention – finishing appropriation bills, completing our work on the budget that provides a balanced alternative to the sequester, ensuring America can pay its bills, and taking action to create jobs – that's what we ought to be doing, not this continued foolishness. And I yield back the balance of my time.”